Mietta's Review
So what is the secret of Becco's success? Is it the lively bar scene at the entrance, the series of rooms cascading down Crossley St, the window onto the little lane, the open kitchen that follows the flow of the rooms? Or is it the Melbourne-Italian menu with its cleverly priced dishes, the excellent service, the fact that you're guaranteed to meet someone you'd like to catch up with? Who knows - who cares? Sensibly people just relax with a glass of wine from the well chosen list and enjoy all of the above. The bar is open through the afternoon until late.
Other Published Opinions
The Age Good Bar Guide 2012 June 09, 2012 "
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The Age Good Food Guide 2013 Score: 15/20
Gourmet Traveller 2013 Australian Restaurant Guide "Becco might function like a well-oiled machine but it never feels mechanical. The room helps - all effortless retro-cool, split levels, torrone-coloured terrazzo floors, linen-draped tables, timber panelling and laneway views - as does the personable and efficient service from crisply uniformed staff and a wine list that leans to the Italian, both in variety and label"
Age Good Food Guide 2013 Score: 15/20 One Hat
Hardie Grant, 21 October, 2011 "It's pricey, but this Italian restaurant makes for the perfect date-night spot.
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Gourmet Traveller 2012 Australian Restaurant Guide "Set in a handsome vintage space of terrazzo floors and angled windows. Becco's long, split-level dining room is dressed in crisp linen and burnished timber; waiters glide between the levels with aplomb"
Age Good Food Guide 2012 Score: 15/20, 1 Hat
Age Good Food Guide 2011 Score: 15.5/20, One Hat
Gourmet Traveller 2011 Australian Restaurant Guide "For 15 years. Becco has glimmered as a blue-tiled tribute to Italian dining in the uniquely Melbourne style: from the rows of Campari bottles, the trattoria chairs and the folds of white napery to the hip laneway locale"
Age Good Food Guide 2010
Gourmet Traveller 2010 Australian Restaurant Guide "With its terrazzo floors, its evocative laneway location and one of the best restaurant bars in town. Becco continues to deliver Italian atmospherics in spades. More than 10 years since opening, however, it seems to be settling into solid Italian bistro mode, forsaking its former zeitgeisty trendsetter approach"
Age Michael Harden, 6-12-2008
Age Good Food Guide 2009
Gourmet Traveller 2009 Australian Restaurant Guide Score: * "Restaurateurs trying to divine the secret to Becco's success might start with the sliver of real estate in one of the city's more charming alleys, the always hospitable hosts or the nimble multi-tasking (a daytime providore that turns into a private dining room by night; a bar area that's more than a glorified holding pen for impatient diners)"
Age Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 16/20
Gourmet Traveller 2008 Australian Restaurant Guide Score: ** "Many CBD restaurants sing for the business crowd with an Italian accent but few have managed to do so as consistently, and with such a sense of casual style, as the laneway gem Becco"
Age Good Food Guide 2006 score 17
Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide ** "Becco is justly considered one of the city's best restaurants for Italian - or any other - food. The favoured CBD haunt of a raft of powerbrokers - and those who just appreciate excellent, simple food with great wine and service - it has a glamorous, yet slightly boho charm. The kitchen keeps things simple but pure, with produce to the fore."
Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide Best business lunches "everything is built around respect for the customer, whatever his or her agenda. The positives here include great Italian-ish and accessible food and staff that really understand their wine."
Age Good Food Guide 2005
Gourmet Traveller 2005 Restaurant Guide "It's the whole package at Becco that makes you completely contented once you're ensconced at your linen-clothed table. Coowners Simon Hartley and Richard Lodge are a constant presence on the floor, overseeing expert bistro choreography"
The Age, Take 5 John Lethlean 22/8/04
Age A2 Jane Faulkner 30/10/04
Age Epicure Espresso Matt Preston 5/10/04
The Foodies' Guide 2004,Allan Campion & Michele Curtis,'One of those restaurants that just does everything perfectly,from the Italian-inspired menu to the thoughtful service.Come with a group of friends or for an intimate tete-a-tete,but make sure you try Fiorina's stuffed olives and the house drink,Becco Macchiato.'
SMH GFG 2004,'the service is polished,the welcome genuine and the delicious Mediterranean-inspired food perfectly married to the wonderful,affordable wines.'
Age Good Food Guide 2004
Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide Australia 2004, 2 Black Stars, Excellent wine list,'perfecting a grown-up Australian version of the bistro.It's all about balence:the inclusive, fishbowl dining room is host to an ongoing contest between perennially enjoyable food,slick and egalitarian service, a great understanding of wine and an urgent,impressive vibe.'
Vogue Entertaining & Traveller, March April 2003
Age Good Food Guide 2003. Special Award for Service Excellence. Score 16/20
Age, A2, Food & Wine, Jane Faulkner, 24/5/03
Herald Sun, Weekend, Bob Hart, 26/10/02
Age Good Food Guide 2002 - Two Hats - Score16/20
Sunday Age, Sunday Life, Eat Streets, 23/3/02
Herald Sun, 04.11.00, Michael Harden
Age (Epicure), 01.05.00
The Melbourne Times, 23-29.12.97, John Lethlean "Restaurant of the Year 1997"